Previously many types of games have been developed and are in use for two players using the principle of placing objects on a board or similar structure with the purpose of aligning a series of objects in a row. As an example, checkers is played on a board having alternately dark and light colors using opposed sets of pieces and has enjoyed popularity for centuries. Other games such as so called three dimensional tic-tack-toe employ the same basic principle except using a series of stacked transparent board achieving an alignment of pieces in the third dimension. Prior art is replete with structure using similar principles, however, these prior-art games such as "CONNECT FOUR" a trademarked game manufactured by Milton Bradley Inc. of Massachusetts, have limiting boundaries and sidelines which limit the flexibility, power and strategy levels of the game.
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 2,485,143 Duncan 18 October 1949 3,556,526 Currie 19 January 1971 3,561,774 Brinser 9 February 1971 4,119,320 Chorba et al 10 October 1978 4,239,230 Shoptaugh 16 December 1980 4,979,748 Danielak et al 25 December 1990 ______________________________________
Duncan teaches a three dimensional tick-tack-toe game with pawns having a socket on the top and a stem on the bottom. The game is played with a square board having nine holes and opposing pawns are placed one on top of the other until, three in a row are aligned.
Currie uses a board with eight upstanding pins with rings for tokens, each opponent set having opposite magnetic poles thus positioning the tokens in a interspadial array on the poles. The object is to align three like tokens.
Brinser similarly uses a board in which nine support members are uprightly mounted. The support members are, however, three different diameters and the playing pieces are also in sets of three diameters each complementary with the other. The object is the same as previously discussed except smaller pieces may be covered by larger pieces during the course of the game.
Chorba et al teach a game with a triangular board and nine elongated pegs placed in rows of three discrete groupings. The playing pieces have a hole allowing accommodation by the pegs. A wild piece having a separate color is used in play and the three dimensional alignment is used as the object of play.
Shoptaugh uses a board with two step holes and three separate types of playing pieces. Two types are played simultaneously independent of the other playing fields. The third type blocks the play and the game is undertaken using the interplay between the blocking and non-blocking pieces.
Danielak et al discloses a token aligning three-dimensional strategy game using five aligned tubes with an opaque upper portion and a transparent lower portion. Tokens are alternately placed in the tubes and a pin is pulled dropping the balls into the transparent section. The object is to align the hidden tokens in a row.
It is clearly seen that the use of tokens or playing pieces placed alternately over pins or pegs to achieve three dimensional alignment is well known in the art however, the orientation of the pins on the board and its rotational ability without limiting boundaries appear to be completely lacking in the prior art thus described.